Fall

Reprising their triumphs of last fall, Dynegy Marketing andTrade and Duke Energy Trading and Marketing LLC again have beenawarded contracts to deliver federal gas onshore as part of theMinerals Management Service’s (MMS) royalty in-kind pilot programin the Gulf of Mexico to begin next month, the agency announcedlast week.

Reprising their triumphs of last fall, Dynegy Marketing andTrade and Duke Energy Trading and Marketing LLC were the winningbidders in the latest auction of Gulf Coast gas transportationservices in the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) third royaltyin-kind pilot program.

The retreat of Northeast citygates from last week’s lofty levelswas still under way Monday, but the rate of decline was slowing.Otherwise, except for softening at Rockies and PacificNorthwest/western Canada points and moderate firmness at Midwestcitygates; flat to slightly lower pricing dominated the west of themarket.

It is often said markets can fall twice as fast as they rise,and that has never been more evident than it was in the natural gasfutures market over the past two weeks. After all, what took bullsfive and a half days to produce, took the bears just two and a halfto knock down. With a 7.8-cent decline to settle at $2.444, theJanuary contract was 26 cents below Monday’s highs and 0.2 centsbelow its Dec. 10 settle.

Despite the coldest weather of the season, the futures markettumbled lower yesterday as traders relieved technical overboughtconditions by unloading new long positions. Cash prices, whichslipped for only the second time in eight trading sessions, werealso seen as a negative factor. After opening near the bottom ofMonday’s wide trading range, bears wasted little time takingJanuary down 10.7 cents to settle at $2.522.

TransCanada Pipelines put down the scalpel last week and took upthe ax. Having determined the path toward improved financial healthmust involve some painful surgery, the company decided to lop off15% of its asset base in exchange for expected proceeds of about$3.6 billion (net $3 billion), which will be used to pay down debt.It also decided to trim its dividend by a hefty 30% to $0.80/share.

For the second time this fall, Canada’s National Energy Boardserved notice it will not halt gas pipeline projects to awaitresolutions of age-old Indian grievances but it did issue a pleafor both sides in a dispute to make peace for the good of allconcerned. The signal arrived in an approval of a second Maritimesspur, called the Saint John Lateral, off the new Maritimes &Northeast pipeline. The $62 million lateral is designed to servedomestic customers in New Brunswick along its route to New Englandfrom the Sable Offshore Energy Project.

Mild weather and a weak futures screen combined to drop cashprices early for the second straight trading session yesterday. Butunlike last Friday, there was no late rally in the futures screento spark an afternoon rebound. The Northeast and Midcontinentexperienced the most significant drops, with many points in the tworegions falling more than a dime. Some western points avoided thegeneral weakness, with PG&E climbing almost a dime and theSoCal Border and Opal rising a few cents.

Under heavy pressure from near record-setting high temperatures,the natural gas market caved in yesterday as traders continued toliquidate long positions. After opening at $2.80 the Decembercontract was hit with a Microsoft-like drop, breaking through keysupport levels at $2.74 and $2.70, to finish off 21.9 cents at$2.665.